On C List of Movie Reviews

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Christopher Columbus:
The Discovery (1992)

Rate: 7
Viewed: 6/25

CCDiscovery
6/25: My goal was to watch every Brando film in existence, and among the fewest left was Christopher Columbus: The Discovery.

Because of the poor reviews levied on the film, I thought it would be awful, but after watching for half an hour, I became pleased with how well everything was going and got into the tale, causing me to think of 1492: Conquest of Paradise.

At the same time, I found a lot of parts to be historically accurate. Cristóbal Colón is Christopher Columbus' Spanish name. Cathay and Zipangu are old European names for China and Japan, respectively. When Columbus set out for the west, he expected to see China or India and thought it would be a quicker way to reach there instead of going around Africa at the bottom. By the time he hit the Caribbean islands, it became the West Indies while the Pacific region was referred to as the East Indies.

As Columbus, Georges Corraface has done a capable job of leading the show. While Marlon Brando looks lazy for the most part, Tom Selleck and Rachel Ward are pretty good in their small parts of King Ferdinand V and Queen Isabella I, respectively. Benicio del Toro flashes potential of becoming an outstanding actor while Catherine Zeta-Jones looks quite young. It's nice to see Robert Davi in a supporting role.

I agree with Marlon Brando's stance of wanting his name be removed from the credits because the film failed to "portray Columbus' complicity in the genocide of Native Americans." Everything was going so well toward the end to paint the true nature of the Genoese explorer; hence, there should've been another hour added to show what Brando was talking about: the effects of initial culture contact and the slavery and destruction that came afterwards.

All in all, there's no question that Christopher Columbus: The Discovery is superior to 1492: Conquest of Paradise.